UTSA’s 'Original 18’ aren’t giving up on disappointing season

When the Roadrunners play at Western Kentucky on Saturday and then finish the regular season at home Nov. 29 against North Texas, their journey will be complete.

They will walk out the door as the last of the athletes on the UTSA roster to say they joined the program in 2010 during a bizarre season that featured a mind-numbing string of practices — without games.

Since those first baby steps were taken to start a program from scratch, the “Original 18” have seen some highs, and they’ve also experienced some lows.

But it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find one of them who says it wasn’t worth it.

“A couple of years from now, when people look back, it’s going to be like, 'Wow, those guys started something special,’” predicted senior running back David Glasco II.

Glasco and cornerback Crosby Adams III, two of the “Original 18,” stopped by the weekly

UTSA media session Monday to reflect on the experience.

Neither player is happy about getting knocked out of the postseason after a loss at Rice two weeks ago.

But both former San Antonio schoolboys remain optimistic the team that came together four years ago to work out in hand-me-down practice jerseys can muster two more winning efforts.

“I think every member of the 18 has an adversity story that we’ve overcome,” said Glasco, who played at Wagner. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we all went on in life and applied that to become successful in whatever we do.”

UTSA (3-7, 2-4 Conference USA) could find some more adversity this weekend in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Led by quarterback Brandon Doughty, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (5-5, 2-4) rank in the top 10 nationally in scoring (41.6 points per game), total offense (509.9 yards) and passing yards (351.8).

The Roadrunners, in contrast, have scored only 19 points in their last three games.

But they do have some intangibles working for them.

They did beat Southern Miss 12-10 last Thursday on the back of a sturdy defense and on four field goals from Sean Ianno, and they do have the “Original 18,” who have led the program from out of the wilderness to 22 wins in its first 44 games in almost four seasons.

Included in the run were surprising winning years in 2012 (8-4) and 2013 (7-5) when they made the fastest and most successful transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision for any start-up in modern history.

The 2013 season was historic in that no Year 3 start-up had ever attempted to play 12 games against FBS competition, let alone win seven.

“What people should know is that we’re a close-knit group,” said Adams, a Roosevelt graduate. “We’re a family

. . . We’re just a tough group. We stuck it out.”

Actually, the “Original 18” is down to 17 able-bodied players now. Safety Nic Johnston is sidelined after season-ending surgery a few weeks ago.

“We can’t make a bowl game, and that’s disappointing,” said Glasco, who rushed for 108 yards against Southern Miss. “But you can’t quit. You can never say die. I’m tired of losing. I don’t want to lose any more.

Midland native Jerry Briggs has lived in San Antonio for most of the past 50 years. He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1973 and attended San Antonio College and the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a journalism degree. Since 1977, he has worked in daily newspapers as a sports writer and editor. After spending six months at the Shreveport Journal in Louisiana, he moved back to San Antonio in 1978 to take a job at the San Antonio Light. A week after the Light closed in 1993, Briggs was hired at the Express-News. His beats as a San Antonio-based reporter have included high school football, Spurs basketball, Missions baseball, the 1996 Olympics and, currently, UTSA Roadrunners football. Briggs worked for 10 years as an editor in the Express-News sports department, coordinating coverage of the Big 12 and local colleges, before moving back into the field as a senior reporter in 2011.